Scientific Research

Colleges and universities are invited to use the protected land on the Preserve as both an outdoor classroom for students and a canvas for field research.

Learning from the Land

Because so much of the land at Balsam Mountain Preserve has been protected from future development and is actively managed by the Trust, the community has essentially evolved into a living laboratory, making it unlike any other master planned Club community in Western North Carolina.

Research projects that have taken place on the Preserve include botanical and zoological inventories, water quality monitoring, sustainable forest management, bird migration patterns, and reptile behavioral studies.

The Trust invites researchers to develop proposals that would benefit both the scientist and the short- and long-term goals of the Trust’s mission. To date there have been over 35 scientific research projects conducted on the Preserve. Currently, the Smithsonian Institute is studying migratory and behavioral patterns of the woodthrush species.